Have you ever wondered how to water a cactus? Most people are at a loss as to how often you should water a cactus.

Since they are known to survive in the desert. In this post, you’ll find out how often you should water cacti both indoors and outdoors, as well as the other basics of watering them.

Cactus plants are one of the most wanted plants, especially for beginners in house planting since they are really easy to take care of.

If you’re a busy person, you might want to have this low-maintenance plant too because you don’t need to fret about watering it every day.

However, this fact is also the reason why most new cactus owners and even some long-time owners have trouble with how often they should really water their plants.

So, how often do you water a cactus?

In the simplest sense, you only need to water your cactus when its soil is completely dry. As stated above, cacti need to be watered at least once a week.

In fact, some varieties can even survive for as long as two years without water. The appearance of your cactus as well as its potting mix dryness are good indicators if you want to know when and how often it needs water.

Of course, there are also a few things to consider if you want to know how often to water cactus.

All cacti have different needs, but it mostly varies on your cactus’ size as well as the size of your pot, the climate and temperature in your area, and the current season.

Read on to find out more about your cactus watering needs.

How Long Can A Cactus Live Without Water?

No matter how hardy these plants are, they can’t live without water forever. Cactus plants are living beings and they require water to live.

It’s just that cactus can survive without it for an extended period of time. In fact, some cactus species can go for two years without water.

Cactus use the water that they store in the stems and roots much more efficiently compared to other plants. Furthermore, it doesn’t give up its water through evaporation as easily as other plants since it has no leaves.

If the cactus is in the ground, you might it would have deep roots to acquire more water supply.

In reality, cacti often have shallow and extensive root systems that stay just beneath the ground and can extend a few meters from the cactus, ready to collect as much water as possible.

The plant releases more roots once the rain comes and will shrivel back up and break in the drier seasons to help save its water supply.

How long a cactus can survive without water can also depend on the species of cactus, its size, and the location where it is growing.

The mammillaria species, as well as other smaller cactus species, can live without problems during the whole winter without water, more or less about four months while they are stored near freezing temperatures, a couple of degrees higher during sunny days.